Not Predestined
by J. Maria
Summary: They were never destined to be joined, and yet all of the steps in their lives had led them back together.
1. Prologue: Learning

Title: Not Predestined  
Author: Jmaria  
Rating: FR-15  
Disclaimer: J.K. owns them all. I just happen to see them slightly askew from her vision.  
Spoilers: Deathly Hallows and the stuff she made up at the end-of-it-all-press-conference...honestly, it shouldn't be considered canon unless its physically written down in the main canon source. That and the fact that it makes no sense given what we've been shown in both the movies and the books.  
Summary: They were never destined to be joined, and yet all of the steps in their lives had led them back together.  
A/N: Inspired while I was reading Kathryne Kennedy's _Enchanting the Lady_ which is just spectacularly written, and after numerous viewings of _Stardust_ - because honestly, Charlie Cox and Claire Danes are so my grown-up versions of Neville and Luna.  
A/N2: and of course, its music inspired too. _Outro: Learning_ by India Arie

**__**

Not Predestined

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Prologue: Learning

Luna took a turn around the warm wood-paneled private office of the boy she had once been closely linked to in her youth. Her defining years, years of great pain and trial. Years of loss and blossoming love. Now they were both older and sadder, despite the joys that had come into their lives.

Neville watched her from the corner of his office nestled deeply in the changed grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry's old greenhouses. Old Number Three to be precise. Twenty-six years had passed in their shared memories, and yet Neville wondered if it had really been that long. He hadn't paid her much mind until his fifth year, so really it was only twenty-two years. His chest tightened at the sight of her long blonde hair cascading freely down her back, over the shimmering silver robes. She was barefoot, and that shouldn't have surprised him at all. He smiled at that. For all the changes the years had brought, she had remained relatively unchanged.

"He suspects, you know," Luna's fingers trailed gently over the wood carving in the panel, her wide eyes peering at him across the office. Sadness and regret clouded her usually serene eyes. "So must she."

"She never was blind, Luna," Neville murmured quietly, guilt gnawing at his chest. "We've made such a mess of it all, haven't we?"

"You'd think we'd have learned by now that this can come to nothing," Luna sighed softly. "But our hearts, Neville, can they have been so very wrong?"

"We should know better, _this _is wrong of us, Lu." He wanted to cross to her, but he could see the error that lay in that path. "There's more than just us to consider. Them, the children."

"His children, her children and _our _children."

"Six innocent children who don't deserve this, Luna."

"Eight," Luna murmured. "There will be eight come this winter."

"Lu?" Neville breathed, crossing that distance he never should have in the first place.

"My fifth, and her third," Pain was etched clearly in her eyes and Neville felt shame for putting that pain there. Even he didn't know that both of them were expecting. Wide eyes clouded as her fingers trailed over his cheek. "I shouldn't make you feel guilty for this, I don't wish to, my love."

"I am guilty, Lu. I should never have started any of this."

"_We_ never should have, you mean. You did not accomplish this all on your own, dear."

Neville bowed his head to hers, eyes closed to the pain and confusion this had brought them all. They were not two singular entities unto themselves. There were others in their hearts and realms of interest. Others outside their immediate circle were beginning to notice, and Ginny Potter had commented on their closeness too often. Luna drew back, tears clinging to her pale lashes. It was time to end this madness.

"I should let you get back to your work, Professor Longbottom. Give dear Mrs. Longbottom my congratulations on her good news."

"And my congratulations to you, Mrs. Scamander. Congratulations to both you and Mr. Scamander on the conception of your fifth child."

Luna smiled tightly at Neville before turning to leave. They had really never learned. Not one thing in these sacred halls of Hogwarts had prepared them for the future they had faced together. But then, only the best lessons could be learned through trial and error.


	2. One: Breathe Me

Title: Not Predestined  
Author: Jmaria  
Rating: FR-15  
Disclaimer: J.K. owns them all. I just happen to see them slightly askew from her vision.  
Spoilers: Deathly Hallows and the stuff she made up at the end-of-it-all-press-conferencehonestly, it shouldnt be considered canon unless its physically written down in the main canon source. That and the fact that it makes no sense given what weve been shown in both the movies and the books.  
Summary: They were never destined to be joined, and yet all of the steps in their lives had led them back together.  
A/N: And of course, its music inspired too. _Breathe Me (Four Tet Mix)_ by Sia  
Going back, and seeing the little things that brought them together even while fate was trying to hold them apart...

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Not Predestined

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One: Breathe Me

Luna Lovegood was not feeling herself. It was understandable, of course. Lord Voldemort had just been killed and his reign of terror was no longer paralyzing her world. Her home was gone, friends had died and others had been injured. But this had not been what was causing her heart to feel off. No.

It was the weight of his head in her lap that was sending chills up her spine when it clearly should not be. She brushed a lock of mousy brown hair from his eyes. He'd been spectacular during the battle and in truth, in the months of his charge of the students rebellion. He was much changed, and yet, much the same bumbling boy he'd always been.

She looked over her shoulder to see if anyone noticed her brightening cheeks. Ginny was too preoccupied with her grieving family. Poor Fred had been taken from them, hidden beyond the veil with Sirius, her mother, and now Tonks and Professor Lupin.

"You don't have to stay with me, Lu. I'm too heavy," Neville murmured, pulling his head away from her lap.

"Hush. The weight is nothing," Luna whispered, unsure of why precisely she _was_ whispering. "A hero needs rest."

"All I did was cut off a snake's head," Neville blushed up at her. "It really was nothing."

"And that is why it was _everything_,' Luna murmured, her unruly blonde hair trickling down past his left ear.

Her head lowered, bowing over his in an impulsive move. Harry Potter would be proud, all of her actions since becoming his friend had been truly impulsive. Ravenclaws were not renowned for that. Her lips brushed across his gently.

Her first kiss with him was in the Great Hall crowded with dead and injured witches and wizards two hours after the fall of Lord Voldemort. His head was in her lap and she was making him into a hero.


	3. Two: The Voice

Title: Not Predestined  
Author: Jmaria  
Rating: FR-15  
Disclaimer: J.K. owns them all. I just happen to see them slightly askew from her vision.  
Spoilers: Deathly Hallows and the stuff she made up at the end-of-it-all-press-conferencehonestly, it shouldnt be considered canon unless its physically written down in the main canon source. That and the fact that it makes no sense given what weve been shown in both the movies and the books.  
Summary: They were never destined to be joined, and yet all of the steps in their lives had led them back together.  
A/N: And of course, its music inspired too. _The Voice_ by Celtic Woman

**__**

Not Predestined

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Two: The Voice

_They looked the same from the back_. Neville couldn't get that thought out of his head, realizing that it held true for each of the individuals crowded around the small table at Hermione and Ron's wedding reception. Luna had said it to him not half an hour ago, just as he'd realized it was the exact thought that he'd been having.

His date smiled at him, but looked entirely bored of the endless chatter of mystical creatures that flew rapidly between the other couple. In truth, it had bored him as well, save for the excited flush it brought to Luna's cheeks. A small, irrational feeling of jealousy coiled in the pit of his stomach.

He didn't know why it did, because Luna Lovegood was nothing but a good friend. Had it been his girlfriend, Hannah Abbot, that had spent her whole night engrossed in conversation with Rolf Scamander, he would have been right to be jealous. But it was Lu, not Hannah, that had been giving Rolf all those special smiles of hers. _It isn't right_. The thought had burned through him the entire night and he wasn't sure why her admiration for the older wizard bothered him so much. He wasn't even jealous when Rolf had asked Hannah for a dance, but his blood had been close to boiling when he'd swept Luna up to dance.

"Isn't it odd?" Luna murmured, coming to stand beside him as Rolf spun Hannah around.

"Hmm?" Neville could barely speak, horrified that she might have guessed what it was that he was thinking.

"It's almost like watching our doppelgangers dancing right in front of us, don't you agree? The four of us look frighteningly alike from the back."


End file.
